


Fireday

by Kalinke



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, hopeful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 22:37:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalinke/pseuds/Kalinke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a terrible day and oh great! The readings are wonky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fireday

**Author's Note:**

> Procrastination...

Damn. Arthur takes a deep breath. This is shit. The readings are all wonky and he is sure that it should definitely absolutely not look like this. At all.

It’s just a routine check. That’s what Gawain said.

Yeah. Right. It’s always just a routine check. Until somebody finds a crack.

Morgana. He needs to contact Morgana. Morgana and Gwen. They have dealt with things like this before. And successfully. But his batteries are dead and it’s just too cloudy for them to be recharged by now.

Another deep breath. Okay. The screen claims that it’s just a small crack. Maybe he should take a look at it. Haha. This thing was taken off-line about 60 years ago and the annual checks never showed any potential risks.

Arthur knows how to deal with oil leaks, chemical waste, weapons disposed of in rivers and the oceans never to appear again being washed up on beaches and coasts. He is really good with water filters. Like, really good.

But this. This is shit. Complete and utter shit.

He knows what to do. He’s been trained to know what to do in a crisis. And it’s not even a crisis yet since there’s no radiation leaking out or sensors would have picked up on it. One, two, three more deep breaths. It’s not like he’s helpless or anything.

First things first. Check the placement of the sensors. Then check the hardware. And then the system. He picks up his equipment bag and leaves the van to test the first set of sensors. He’s spent five hours setting up the boxes and now this is going to take another two hours. Rebooting would be even worse.

For a second he regrets working alone. But it passes quickly enough for him to pretend that he is fine.

The first set of sensors lines up perfectly with their neighbors. The signals are fine. The lights are doing their blinky thing. Two green lights in counterpoint to a red one. He’s got a connection on his MT and the readings seem to be fine. The second set is okay as well. Sets three through to twelve are working within normal parameters. Number thirteen and fourteen: nothing out of the ordinary. But there are only four more to go and he has almost made it around the plant when he realizes that there is no number fifteen.

“Bloody. Hell,” Arthur mutters. Number fifteen should be right here. And number fifteen was right here, because he can see where the box holding sensor number fifteen has left traces in the soft soil. Right next to traces of… footprints? Hooves? Arthur looks up and scanning his surroundings, he can see a deer in the distance, partly hidden by a bush.

“Stupid nature,” Arthur grumbles, shaking his head. He smiles, but just a little.

He checks sets sixteen, seventeen and eighteen and they are, yes, working. Walking back to the van he checks for other traces of wildlife. This whole area’s been classified as 4b ever since he can remember. But there’s nothing but ants and bugs. Arthur puts down the bag, picks up one of the spare boxes and rummages through the bag for his MT. Maybe it’s not so bad after all, because if he can replace number fifteen, chances are good there’s no need for an EmOp.

Damn caribou. Eating his technology.

The deer is still grazing, when Arthur reaches spot number fifteen. A deer. Here. Arthur shakes his head.

Setting up the sensors and checking them takes another 12 minutes and when he’s done the deer still hasn’t left. He’s moved around a bit and Arthur thinks he can make out another one in the shadows. 

Arthur searches his bag for his dude!-I-think-my-grandfather-had-a-camera-like-this (Yes, thank you Lance) and takes a few pictures of the deer. He watches them for another couple of minutes and then tells them quietly to please not take any more of the sensors, as that would make his day sort of worse than it already is. The deer don’t move. But Arthur does, towards the van to start the whole process again.

Ten minutes later there are no wonky readings and there’s no crack in the containment and Arthur closes his eyes, because this is good. Really good and he wants to go back to water filters and smelly substances.

Arthur double-checks the readings and then decides to have another run-through, just to be on the safe side. Nothing. It’s all good. He turns off the computer and leaves the van to pick up boxes number one and two.

Ants, bugs and worms. Some bushes and weeds. How did the deer get here?

Back at the van, Arthur places the boxes into l-boxes, which then are stored on a shelf on the right side. Arthur starts the van and drives carefully along the maintenance road toward box five. Walking back a bit, he picks up the third and fourth sensor and puts them into their boxes, as well as number five. Number six and seven follow, though number six doesn’t look too good anymore. It’s still working, but the rattling sound it gave off when Arthur picked it up doesn’t exactly inspire trust. Arthur drives past boxes number nine and ten and parks close to box eleven, walking back to pick up the boxes and returning to the van he repeats the packing until everything is safely stored in their respective l-boxes.

When picking up box number fifteen, Arthur can still see the two deer.

After collecting the remaining sensors, Arthur checks his batteries. They are still low. But that’s alright, because he can make it back to headquarters in less than three hours and then there’ll still be another hour of daylight.

Driving back is tedious and Arthur kind of wishes that Lance or Gwen were with him. Or even Morgana. Because it’s boring and there’s nothing to see. Endless stretches of nothing filled with bushes and occasionally some trees. Lance would tell him to lighten up mate, there were deer! and Gwen would smile and tell him something about their mythical and/or ecological significance. Morgana though, she would recite old recipes for roast venison that she found among her granny’s things.

But the memories of Ced are still too fresh, too raw and until Arthur feels okay with himself again he’ll keep on working alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Written many years ago. I planned this huge fic but it was never meant to be... But posting it is a great break from studying...


End file.
